Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Europe Adventure ~ The best and the worst of Europe

We finally headed home. After 20 days, 14 cities, 9 countries, we finally making our home. As much as it has been fun, home is where the heart is. Missing the kids so much, though get to skype with them every single day, not being able to hug and kiss them are already a torture!

We had an early flight out from Paris. 11am to be exact. Why I still say it's early. When you are in a foreign airport, you need to be there ar least 3 hours earlier since we don't know what to expect. Certain airports would have different immigration and custom requirements, therefore, it's better to be early than to be sorry.

While I was waiting for our flight, I slowly recapped the best and the worst of all the places we have been to. Let's see how all this translated into a blog entry :

Airport

The Best ~ Dublin
Why ~ Free wifi (super duper important), clean, systematic with choices of vegetarian food. Comfortable and airport staff were friendly without being prejudiced

The worst ~ I was gonna put Rome airport but decided to include Paris airport as well
Why Rome ~ If you read my Rome entry, the moment we landed on the city, we already have the horror feeling. The queue at the Immigration check point were super long. When we came nearer, we realised only one counter was opened. Can you imagine, an international airport, and only one counter was opened! And when it's about to be our turn, we saw the immigration officer in charger was doing his work slowly while chatting away with his colleague. That made the process slower. I then need to go to the loo, and decided to use the loo at the hotel instead as it was super dirty. And when we finally wanted to get a cab, it was like at Pudu Raya with all this ulats worming all over you offering illegal cabs....I must confessed I was horrified and can't wait to leave the airport


The best food city

It'll be this place in Barcelona at the La Rambla's area. It served the best kebab we have ever tasted. It's just next to a famous paella and tapas place there, very Moroccon and right in front of the florist. Sorry, didn't get to take down the name. Was too busy putting food in our month. After many days not having proper meal, we really enjoyed the food there. Overall, Barcelona had the best makan place. The next day we also enjoyed beriani at this Pakistani place near our hotel

The worst food city 

Rome, of course. All you can see are pizza, pasta and wine. And very limited halal place. We ended up eating at the same place for 3 days simply because that's the cheapest halal place in Rome. Luckily, the bed & breakfast we stayed in offer loads of bread for breakfast, so we ate like there's no tomorrow and stuffed some bread in our bags for later use.


The city with the best scene

As bias as I may sound, of course it's Lucerne. How can you not love Lucerne. Wherever you look, they'll be mountain. The rivers and lakes are so clean with clear water and the air is so fresh. So many pictures we wanna take that we were spoilt for choices. A city which I definitely will come again


Overated city

Don't kill me, my vote will go to Paris. Yes, Paris, the city of love. Apart from Eiffel Tower and the beautiful buildings, I don't find Paris interesting. It's crowded, not so clean and things are expensive. It's a tourist city and a place where you just want to tell people, Yes, I've been to Paris. I may not necessarily like it, but yes, I've been to Paris.

The best shopping place

If you are like me, not really season concious, then it'll be Bicester. It's cheaper, and it's much more conducive to shop there. Wifi is everywhere and it's not too crowded. Nevermind they sell spring collection in summer, to me, a nice bag is a nice bag no matter what the season is. And if the price is right, the bags will definitely look nicer :)


We had a splendid time in Europe that we promised ourselves we will go to some of the cities again. As unbelievable as it may sound, it's not that expensive to go to Europe. Next entry, I'll share with you some tips to make your travelling affordable. Yes peeps. It can be done.

Signing off,

liza365.blogspot.com




1 comment:

Mel's Tale said...

Dear Liza, perhaps you can share your planning & budgeting for this trip in your next posting.

BTW, I'm a silent reader of your blog...I adore the way you manage your career, family and now your study....keep on writing dear :)